FRANKLIN (AP) - A Las Vegas hotel has sued the founder of the for-profit Tea Party Nation, saying the Tennessee attorney owes more than a half-million dollars for a canceled convention.

The Venetian Casino Resort filed a claim for $642,000 this week in Clark County District Court in Nevada against Judson Phillips of Franklin, according to The Tennessean.

The resort claims Phillips reserved 1,637 room nights in anticipation of a convention scheduled for July 14-18, 2010, but canceled the event in late June of last year.

The hotel says Phillips paid a $25,000 deposit on the rooms but owes more than $554,000 as well as nearly $88,000 in interest, per a March 2010 contract signed by both parties.

Phillips said he could not comment, not having seen the lawsuit, which was filed Monday.

Phillips created the Tea Party Nation in 2009. It's one of a number of tea party groups in Tennessee but most, if not all, of those are nonprofit s. The for-profit status of Phillips' group has been controversial.

Republican Congresswomen Michele Bachmann, now a presidential candidate, and Marsha Blackburn backed out of Phillips' National Tea Party Convention in Nashville last year after they questioned how the profits of the event would be used.

But Sarah Palin did come to town to headline the event. That led to another lawsuit against Phillips.

Businessman Bill Hemrick claimed that he lent the convention money to help cover a deposit on Palin's $100,000 speaking fee but was then shut out of the event. That lawsuit also claimed Phillips reneged on an agreement to form a partnership with Hemrick and libeled the businessman in an email.